A Year of Enhancing Your Virtual and Hybrid Events – Event Tech Live
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By Robin Bunevich, Zoom’s Integrated Marketing Manager for Zoom Events and Zoom Video Webinars.
They say time flies when you’re having fun, so it’s hard to believe our virtual events management solution, Zoom Events, just turned 1! Launched in the summer of 2021, Zoom Events was born specifically with remote audiences in mind. As virtual and hybrid events became core to modern marketing strategies, we saw the need for a remote-friendly event platform that would help organizations facilitate memorable, engaging experiences and unite attendees across borders and time zones.
So far, more than 7,000 customers have used Zoom Events, and the platform has averaged more than 150 events daily since launching. We even hosted Zoomtopia 2021 on Zoom Events, delivering the latest and greatest in the world of communications to more than 30,000 virtual attendees worldwide. And we’re continuing to break ground as we help organizations uncover new possibilities with hybrid experiences of all shapes and sizes.
When you’re busy working ahead, sometimes you forget to look back. It’s exciting to see all we achieved in just 12 months, with so much more to come! Here are some of our favorite moments and feature releases from the last year.
Sometimes you need a central place for presenters to hang out in between sessions or discuss last-minute changes. Rather than hop on separate calls, our virtual green room, or Zoom Webinars Backstage, lets webinar hosts, co-hosts, and panelists come together behind the scenes and chat while still enjoying access to the event and its features.
Typically, an event expo hall is the place everyone comes together and where the best conversations happen. It’s the chance to showcase products, connect with peers, and discover what’s new in the industry. We didn’t think virtual events should have to sacrifice this valuable experience, so we added a virtual expo hall to replicate the in-person booth experience and allow attendees to network, explore new topics, and engage in live conversation.
We know not all events need an expo hall, however, so our Zoom Events networkingfeatures give attendees the chance to connect before, during, and after an event through participant directories, customizable profiles, and a variety of conversation tools.
We know how important branding is to extend the reach of an event, so our Session Branding capabilities let users customize nametags, backgrounds, wallpaper, and registration hubs with company logos and brand assets.
When software tools integrate seamlessly, everybody wins. Our integration with Zoom Rooms allows users to easily join a virtual event from their conference room or hybrid workspace and share the experience with in-person and remote colleagues. And for a seamless reporting experience, our Pardot integration makes it easy to populate prospect databases with registration and attendance data.
Speaking of data, one of the biggest benefits of a virtual or hybrid experience is access to the data and analytics you may otherwise miss in person. The Zoom Events dashboard enables hosts to generate reports and enjoy enhanced sorting functionality to view, export, and download valuable metrics. Event marketers no longer have to guesstimate ROI and attendee engagement thanks to transparent analytics surrounding registrations, booth sponsors, livestream views and duration, content downloads, tickets sold, event sponsors, and more!
Although we have a full year under our belts, Zoom Events is just getting started. Take a look at some of our newly released features to see how you can simplify your next virtual or hybrid event, improve attendee networking, and expand your reach.
We’ve made it easier for hosts to manage permissions of their special role attendees (except for moderators), by giving them the ability to control what level of access those attendees have during the event. Hosts can grant all attendee permissions, revoke attendee permissions, or pre-register special roles for a specific ticket.
Sometimes you’re not ready to publicize a session immediately. Now, hosts have control over when to publish and display session recordings to the event lobby.
Hosts can add or invite co-editors at any step of the event creation process.
Pre-registration enhancements For hosts who already have a list of registered attendees, they can upload a list of those pre-registered attendees to an event. Each uploaded attendee will receive their ticket to directly join the event without having to go through the registration flow again within Zoom Events.
Get more flexibility around ticketing, including the ability to designate which attendees can join each session. In the ticketing panel, define the type of sessions you want various ticket holders to attend as well as gate sessions for specific attendees or open them up to everyone.
Networking for mobile browser Users can view their profile card and set up their networking mode from a mobile browser, in addition to initiating 1:1 chats and sending connection requests to other attendees.
Audio transcription for Zoom Events recordings Find your post-event session recording on a fullscreen playback page in the conference event lobby complete with audio transcription. With audio transcription you can:
Display interpreters on session cards If you’re using an interpreter in your event, attendees will see a “Live Interpreters” label displayed on the session information card to see what languages are available and supported.
Want to know more about all you can do with Zoom Events? Bookmark our release notes to stay up-to-date on the latest feature releases. To learn how you can elevate your virtual event strategy and create experiences your attendees will love, contact Zoom Events today for a live demo!
